St. Paul Forever Challenge picks 30 semifinalists: Which great idea would you award $1M?

Tom Evers, center, who is director of Playworks Twin Cities, suggests using the $1 million St. Paul Forever Challenge prize to expand his schoolchildren play program throughout the city. He's joined here by Playworks officials Jen Rae and Todd Wallace. (Pioneer Press: Jean Pieri)

Napoli-Rangel, who also performs hip-hop under the name See More Perspective, would start with oral histories from each neighborhood.

"I want to go back as far as we can and close the gaps between who is here now and who came before," he said.

Then he would build outdoor sculptures expressing those stories.

PASSPORT TO PROFESSIONALISM

Teenagers need more than good grades to get jobs -- they need a record to show off their job-related skills and training.

That's the idea of Lucas Havens, 27, of Minneapolis, who is manager of program effectiveness for Genesys Works, a St. Paul nonprofit that provides internships for low-income teens.

Passport to Professionalism would be an online credentialing system that would record experiences and classes relevant to a career.

MICRO-FINANCING

Small is beautiful -- and efficient -- for Traci Elder, 35, of Edina.

She likes the idea of connecting donors with entrepreneurs.

The "StPaulSmallBizJuicer" website would provide loans of $500 to $10,000 to jump-start ideas. Donors would give money after selecting from a menu of proposals.

"The general public would vote with their pocketbook as to which loans are granted," said Elder, a marketing director for Little & Co.

If the business were successful, the loan would be paid back -- and either kept by the donor or loaned out again. "I like the ongoing pay-it-forward idea," Elder said.

NEIGHBORHOOD OLYMPICS

Which is the best neighborhood in St. Paul? Amanda Duhon, 23, of Minneapolis would like to set up the Neighborhood Olympics to find out.

She would invite the city's 17 neighborhoods to a festival that would feature food from local restaurants. Participants would play games and create art. Judges would award points, and the winning neighborhood would be declared Neighborhood of the Year.

Duhon got the idea while working as a volunteer with AmeriCorps. She is a program director for Vista, an AmeriCorps program.

BIKE-CONNECT ST. PAUL

Bicyclists need maps to get around -- so Amy Schroeder Ireland, a 39-year-old St. Paul lawyer, would install a system of maps and signs.

The idea does not involve creating bike lanes, but identifying and labeling routes with color-coded signs.

"These would be colorful, or even artistic or whimsical. You might take the red line from Highland Park to Como Park," she said.

She saw similar signs for bicyclists when she lived in Germany.

MOUNDS PARK NATIVE CULTURES CENTER

People often drive through Mounds Park without noticing it, says Stephanie Harr. But she wants to change that by promoting the park's unique history as a Native American burial ground.

Her idea is to create a cultural center that would include community space and a place for musical performances.

"The ability to leverage the location, views and history is something that would end up being tremendously beneficial," said Harr, 43, a volunteer for Friends of Mounds Park.

On a bike ride with her husband last summer, they ran into a group of her students who didn't know how to swim. This prompted a discussion, some spur-of-the-moment swimming lessons and an idea.

The program would offer "swimming in a second language," she said.

FISH-HATCHERY PARK

The fish hatcheries on the East Side of St. Paul were a family destination in the 1940s. Michele Hanson, 54, would like to bring the people back.

Hanson, a regional planner for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, envisions the 80 acres below Indian Mounds Park as a place for an outdoor learning center.

It would feature the hatcheries, as well as hiking, biking, geocaching and an outdoor fishing classroom.

SUMMER NIGHT MARKETS

The idea of Herbert Chiou, 34, of Shoreview is for a weekly community get-together featuring performances, arts, crafts and food from food trucks and restaurants.

Chiou envisions a stage that would host aspiring entertainers, including comedians, singers and garage bands. He hasn't picked a downtown location but said Mears Park or the Farmers' Market might work.

Chiou, a chemist with the 3M Co., saw similar markets growing up in Taiwan and Sydney.

HISTORICAL SUPER MARKERS

Every building in St. Paul has a story to tell -- and Joe Landsberger wants to listen.

Landsberger, 68, an educational website developer, would put hundreds of historical markers on or near buildings across the city.

"I want to give neighbors and pedestrians a sense of place," he said.

Each would have a QR code that could be scanned with digital devices to produce maps, photos and additional information.

MOBILE MARKETS

Marsha Shotley wants to put food shelves on wheels.

Shotley, 47, of West Lakeland Township is the chief philanthropy officer of Second Harvest Heartland. She said one estimate concluded that 51,000 St. Paul residents are not able to eat three meals every day.

"Availability and affordability are barriers," she said.

The trucks would make weekly stops, offering free food. The emphasis, said Shotley, would be healthy, fresh food from local farmers.

CANNING CENTER

In Minnesota, you can't survive by just growing your own food -- you have to preserve it for the long winter.

People could learn to preserve their produce or have someone else do it for them.

Meyer, the director of religious education for Unity Church in St. Paul, said that community canning centers were common through World War II. The center would offer inner-city residents access to affordable, locally grown organic food year-round.

She envisions "a hive of learning and fun." There, she said, volunteers and community members would share their knowledge on a range of topics, from cooking and knitting to basic home repair.

COMMUNITY TOOLBOX

Need a shovel? A rake?

The Capital City Community-Building Tool Lending Library and Resource Center would be able to help.

The brainchild of Peter Pearson, 64, St. Paul, the center would lend tools to residents for home and yard improvements.

Pearson is the president of the Friends of St. Paul Libraries. He got the idea when a Hmong man recently asked him if the library could lend him a power saw. The library couldn't do that, Pearson replied -- but he started to see the potential of a lending program.

It would also offer workshops on how to avoid foreclosure. "We would do anything to help improve the neighborhood," he said.

HIGH-TECH TOOLS

Small businesses would be able to use big-business technology, if the dream of Michelle Tran is fulfilled.

Tran, 28, of Minneapolis envisions a central location for 3D printers, software and other expensive or oversized technology that many entrepreneurs don't have. The shop would also have light-manufacturing tools.

She got the idea when visiting her brother in San Francisco. He was a customer of a business called Tech Shop, which sold access to specialized equipment for a monthly fee.

"School groups and Girl Scouts might use it some day," said Tran, a strategy consultant with Reve Consulting in Minneapolis.

FUNICULAR

Inspired by the inclined railways of Europe, Ben Ransom would like to build a funicular.

Funiculars have two cars connected by cables, so when one descends, it pulls the other one up. Ransom's train would carry tourists and commuters from the blufftop near the St. Paul Cathedral to downtown.

Ransom, 33, is a business developer for the wind-energy division of the German company Tuvsud. He encountered funiculars in Bergen, Norway, during his honeymoon last year.

WABASHA CAPITOL- RIVER STRIP

The mile-long stretch of Wabasha Street in downtown St. Paul is an opportunity, says Amy Hyatt-Blat, 43, of Minneapolis.

She would transform Wabasha into the city's cultural main street -- and lop off the "skyway to nowhere," a disconnected skyway from the defunct Macy's.

"The bones of community institutions are there, but the curb appeal is not good," said Hyatt-Blat.

DRINK LOCAL

Sam DiVita wants everyone to drink more water but to use fewer plastic bottles.

DiVita proposes $1,000 hydration stations in schools, libraries and recreation centers. Users would fill their own water bottles from a spigot that turns on and off automatically.

DiVita, 47, teaches at LEAP High School, which has such a station.

CLOSING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

Phil Gapp wants a better Internet.

"We believe Internet access should be more affordable, higher performance and community accountable," said Gapp, 23, a community entrepreneur.

He proposes a public-private partnership that would allow users to help make decisions about Internet access.

CENTER FOR CRAFTS

Jack Ray envisions a building with studios where artists work on pottery, glass, bronze, fabric and boats -- and other types of crafts.

The studios would be magnets for students.

"Teenagers have a B.S. meter," he said. "But they also have an opportunity meter. And they are powerfully and dramatically drawn to these opportunities."

Ray, 58, is a coordinator for the St. Paul Department of Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity.

SHELTER FOR STUDENTS

Maya Park is distressed that her students are distracted by homelessness, pregnancy, poverty, hunger and trouble with police.

So she would like to build a shelter for them across the street from Gordon Parks High School, where she is an English teacher.

Park, 43, Eagan, said the building would provide beds for 10 to 20 teens and be a center for learning life skills.

DRIVING MISS DAISIES

A bus system for senior citizens could serve neighborhoods of St. Paul, according to Karen Anderson Vento, 50.

As a housing counselor at Carondelet Village senior center, she sees growing demand for transportation. A system of buses linking senior centers would allow residents to take advantage of facilities -- a swimming pool in one place, a therapy session in another.

It would allow seniors daily access to shopping, churches and each other. "It's about the little things, like just having lunch with friends -- things that give you joy," said Vento.

PEACE PEDDLERS

As an alternative to playground punishment, Rick Risch of Minneapolis suggests a new kind of stationary bike.

The outdoor all-weather machines would be installed in playgrounds across the city. Then, when children misbehave on the playground, they would be sent to the bikes.

"We don't want them to equate exercise with punishment, so we have them sit on the bikes -- and it's their choice to pedal or not," said Risch, 56, a teachers aide at Mendota Heights Elementary School.

The bikes would be designed and built by a local company.

FREE TICKETS FOR KIDS

Andrea Klosowski, 39, of North Branch would provide free tickets to children for various one-time events in St. Paul.

Children would be able to pick up the tickets at local libraries. Klosowski envisions them attending sports events, concerts, plays and exhibits.

She would open the program to all children, and would not require any family income restrictions.